THE LAST BUDGET F1 CAR
HRT’S troubled crusade collapsed at the end of 2012 when Formula 1’s V6 turbo hybrid regulations were confirmed, making it the last true shoestring effort
As Formula 1 continues its relentless progress into pioneering technology, it’s refreshing when a real throwback enters the fray. The little HRT team that ran aground in 2012 was most definitely one of them; staging a full F1 season on a €46million budget, F1’s first Spanish team was a modern homage to the mass of tiny outfits battling for a space on the grid in the late 1980s and early ’90s. After three years of toil with little reward, it met a similar fate to the likes of Simtek, Pacific and Forti when its owner Thesan Capital was unable to sell the team. Triggered by the collapse of Lola’s F1 dream in 1997, the FIA had tightened up the entry requirements to join F1, requiring any entries seeking to join at the turn of the new millennium to pay a bond of $48m, later repaid in instalments, to demonstrate financial security. This virtually priced all except manufacturer teams out of the market and, in the immediate years after, only Toyota emerged from scratch, as the large start-up costs put off even the largest marques from lodging new entries, instead electing to take over existing outfits. In 2008 and ’09, the global financial meltdown and ensuing exodus of manufacturer teams gave F1 and the FIA the job of replenishing its dwindling grid, amid the unfulfilled promise of a cost cap. Of the four teams admitted, Lotus Racing and the Manor-run Virgin Racing squads made it, US F1 was a stillborn project, while Campos Racing’s entry went through a difficult birth and ultimately ended up with adoptive parents. From the very beginning, the team toiled with financial pressures. Having budgeted for the cost cap, owner Adrian Campos’s dream looked dead in the water, but a lastminute reprieve by Jose Ramon Carabante’s Hispania Group provided the impetus to make the grid for the Bahrain 2010 season-opener – just, in the case of Karun Chandhok’s hastily assembled machine – with ex-midland chief Colin Kolles drafted in to run the day-to-day operations. Although its Dallara-built chassis were underdeveloped and lacking pace, the team managed to avoid the wooden spoon at the end of its first two seasons, beating the Manor-virgin outfit to 11th in the
constructors’ standings in both years. Midway through 2011, Carabante sold up to Madrid-based investment company Thesan, which came in with the goal to drive HRT up the order while demonstrating a clear Spanish identity. Relying on Kolles’s personnel to go racing, Thesan gave the Romanian his marching orders and went on a recruitment drive to bring more elements in-house. Ex-minardi driver Luis Perez-sala took up the reins as team principal, while the team moved its headquarters from Murcia to a new facility in Madrid. On the driving front, Narain Karthikeyan was re-signed for a second year having been benched mid-season to allow Red Bull to blood Daniel Ricciardo, while the experienced Pedro de la Rosa was signed to lead the team, bringing a wealth of knowledge from testing duties with Mclaren and Pirelli to develop the car and boost the team’s commercial presence. “I learned a lot from the management side and how complex an F1 team could be,” recalls de la Rosa, who now works as a sporting and technical advisor to DS Techeetah in Formula E. “I was not just focusing on racing, because there were many other things I had to help with; I had to try to look for sponsorship, and there was also the fact that we moved the team to Madrid, which I also had to help with. “I remember the first time people asked me why I was going to HRT, and there were two reasons. The first was to continue racing, and the second was that it was a Spanish Formula 1 team. That was unique, [and if] I didn’t help establish it then it might not happen again. I knew exactly where I was going and the difficulties we would be facing. I knew that it was going to be hell, but it was hell with a group of very committed people.” The F112 was hardly a significant departure from its predecessors, although some time had been spent in the vehicle dynamics lab to understand the F111’s chronic lack of grip. Nonetheless, it was late in arriving – HRT attended pre-season testing with the old car, as the new design failed the roll-hoop and lateral nose crash tests needed to run. It was another difficult birth for the team, and the long-awaited F112 finally made its on-track debut in a Barcelona shakedown. Dressed in a white, burgundy and gold
“I knew it was going to be hell, but it was hell with a group of very committed people”